


Whumptober 2020 21 alt 3 Comfort

by frankie_mcstein



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Emotional Whump, Gen, Protective boys, Whumptober 2020, attempted physical whump, poor Higgins, protective lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27134651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankie_mcstein/pseuds/frankie_mcstein
Summary: Whumptober 2020 prompt 21 alt 3- ComfortShe cancelled the date after Magnum told her about the dropped assault charges. She thought it was lucky that she bumped into an old friend. But then Milo decided she had humiliated him.
Relationships: Juliet Higgins & Everyone
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947172
Comments: 20
Kudos: 57





	Whumptober 2020 21 alt 3 Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Emotional whump again, sorry to those who prefer it to be physical. But we do get Magnum being soft and protective and the lads very nearly get to eat someone. Hopefully that makes up for it

Higgins hadn’t done as good a job of hiding her feelings as she had thought. Or maybe Magnum just knew her too well. Either way, as soon as their meeting with Mr. Rockly was over, Magnum smiled to himself and shook his head a little.

“What’s that look for? Meeting not go well?” Rick put a coffee in front of Magnum as he spoke, then slid onto the seat.

Magnum quickly pushed down the grin; for all that he kept telling Higgins she should start dating again, it wasn’t up to him to tell everyone if she actually had found someone she wanted to go out with. He grabbed the coffee to cover, taking a welcome mouthful.

“It, uh, sounds like a nice easy case,” he said as Higgins walked back into the bar. “Simple case of figuring out which of his siblings stole the engagement ring their grandmother left to him.” He shifted a little as Higgins dropped to the seat next to him.

She reached out for his coffee, swiping it neatly out from under his nose before he’d even realized what she was doing. She flashed him a triumphant grin as she lifted the cup to her lips, and Rick, caught by surprise, huffed out a laugh. He didn’t look at all repentant at the look Magnum gave him, just turned his face away and carried right on giggling to himself.

“So, did he ask you out?” Magnum was self-aware enough to admit his grin was a little malicious; he’d really wanted that coffee. 

Rick’s head snapped back around, staring at Higgins, his raised eyebrows demanding an answer. Higgins tried to ignore him and glare at Magnum, but Magnum kept the smile on his face, and, finally, she sighed.

“Yes, actually, he did. He’s picking me up tomorrow evening.” She was trying to sound smug and self-assured, like she wasn’t at all surprised or doubting how the night would go.

Both men could see the hint of doubt in her eyes, and both ignored it.

“That’s great, Jules!” Rick’s enthusiasm was genuine and welcome, his entire face lighting up with his grin.

Higgins smiled back at him, the doubt retreating a little as she did. “I, uh, told him you do wonderful meals here,” she said, her smile becoming something a little tighter, almost like she was expecting Rick to laugh at her or tell her she wasn’t allowed to bring a date to his bar.

“Hey, that’s a great idea! I can keep an eye out for any ungentlemanly behavior,” he joked, wanting his friend to go back to being excited for her date. “Tell you what, drinks are on the house,” he added, ignoring the wounded look Magnum was giving him.

“How come I never get drinks on the house?”

“Because you’d bankrupt me.”

“Oh, c’mon! That’s so not true!” 

Higgins looked from one to the other as they bickered, relaxing in the light atmosphere. She’d enjoyed having Milo flirting with her and, to her surprise, had enjoyed flirting back. But there had been something, some sort of instinct calling to her that had left her feeling a little off-balance after she had accepted his invitation to dinner. The same little voice that had made her suggest they eat at La Mariana.

Sitting with Magnum and Rick made her forget that voice, and she happily stopped trying to figure out what it was that it had been trying to tell her. She hadn’t had a date in a long time, hadn’t actually felt any real interest in a man in even longer, and she put her niggling doubts down to her own inexperience on the dating scene. And kept right on sipping Magnum’s coffee while he tried to defend himself against Rick’s accusations of gluttony and freeloading.

…

Magnum was looking uncomfortable. Higgins tried to focus on her paperwork, but he stayed where he was, in the doorway, shifting slightly, and finally she sighed.

“What is it, Magnum?” 

He took it as an invitation to walk in and sat down on the chair facing her. The piece of paper he was holding was covered in his handwriting, dates and names from the looks of it. He glanced at it before he started talking.

“I ran a quick background check on Milo, just to exclude him from our list of suspects.” 

“Naturally,” came the distracted sounding reply.

“Thing is…” He looked at the paper again. “He doesn’t have any actual criminal record, but people have tried to bring charges against him in the past.”

Higgins’ head snapped up at that, looking at him intently. “What sort of charges?” She tensed up as she watched Magnum wrestle with himself for a second.

“Three women accused him of assault, but, each time, the charges were dropped.”

The silence that fell was heavy. Magnum was trying to read Higgins’ mind by watching her face, tracking the emotions flickering through her eyes. Higgins was trying to work out if she should take the warning. Milo’s family was rich, not millionaire-rich but well-off enough that they could afford a payoff to avoid a scandal. These women could have been enterprising rather than victims.

She couldn’t believe she was thinking that way. How many times had she read about women ignoring a man’s past, shrugging off his past victims as bitter and jealous, only for something awful to happen?

“Thank you, Thomas,” she said quietly. “Would you mind excusing me? I have a call to make.”

He gave her a sympathetic smile, feeling his heart ache for her. The first man she had dated after losing the love of her life turned out to be married and a serial cheater, the next was a baseball player she had only gone out with to prove that she could get a date, and now this guy had turned out to be a possible abuser. He was starting to think he couldn’t blame her for wanting to lock herself away and ignore any romantic possibility that presented itself.

…

The first thing T.C. noticed when he walked into La Mariana was that Magnum and Rick were sitting at the bar and Higgins was missing. He glanced around, sure that he was running late and that the blonde should have been there. Then his ears pricked up, and he turned his head to see her sitting at a table with a man he had never seen before. She was smiling, looking down at the glass in front of her, but with her fingers toying with her hair. 

“Who’s that with Higgy?” T.C. threw the stranger a sideways glance as he sat at the bar. Rick and Magnum seemed pretty relaxed, so he wasn’t worried, but he couldn’t help but be curious.

“That’s the cop who investigated the latest of Milo’s alleged assaults. She called him after she told Milo they wouldn’t be going to dinner.” He smiled a little, remembering Higgins' determination to get to the bottom of the situation. "He agreed to give her some details."

Magnum sounded amused, and T.C. gave him a quick look. Sure enough, there was a grin on his face. 

"He was supposed to have left over an hour ago," and he almost sounded smug, like he was responsible for getting the two together.

The three of them all grinned as laughter rang out from the table across from the bar. They shared a look that clearly said, “This is wonderful,” and Rick craned his neck a little to get a glimpse of the couple. 

“Jules looks really happy,” he commented, seeing the smile on her face. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be giving her free drinks sometime soon after all?”

They went ahead and ordered their food, pretty sure the fourth member of their little family wouldn't be joining them anytime soon. Sure enough, as they picked at wings and fries and burgers, Higgins stayed where she was, apparently just as enamored with her policeman as he seemed to be with her.

No one noticed the man standing in the window, staring at the laughing couple with anger tightening his face.

…

"So you met him when you first came out here?"

"That's right. He had to transfer over to the mainland and just came back a few months ago. The accusation against Milo was his first case back on Oahu." Higgins was picking at T.C.'s leftover fries while she explained why she had spent so long talking with the officer. She had only joined them a few minutes ago, and they had immediately bombarded her with questions about the man.

"His name is Kai, and he and his wife are the sweetest couple," she continued, popping another lukewarm fry into her mouth. "I was hopelessly lost, the Rover had conked out on me, it was pouring with rain. I'm afraid I didn't make a particularly good first impression." She gave a wry grin. "And they still accepted my offer to buy them a coffee to say thank you."

It was nice, hearing her talk about a friend who wasn't connected to their social circle. It didn't happen very often, most of her friends either having walked away from her when she was disavowed or too far away for her to feel the need to talk about them. The three men listened as she told them how Kai had asked her to dinner that evening, how she was looking forward to seeing his wife, Kimmie, again.

Rick offered her a bottle of wine to take along to the meal, and she gladly accepted. Magnum offered to drive her so she could actually drink the wine, and she accepted that, too, although she said she'd catch an Uber back because she didn't know how late she would be.

T.C. immediately announced a movie night. He had an ulterior motive, of course. He wanted to be there when Higgy got back so they could find out if they were ever going to get to meet Kai and Kimmie. He hoped the answer would be yes; it would be good for his little sister to have someone she could count on who was there just for her.

…

He watched as the car pulled up to the gate and readied himself, waiting for the right moment to slip in. The car moved onto the estate, the gates started to close, and he ran in quickly, diving off the driveway and into the dubious cover of the plants on the side. Then he ran toward the house, following the lights he could see in the darkness.

The car pulled past him, heading back toward the gate. That meant she was on her own. Perfect. He shifted the strap of his bag, making sure it was steady on his shoulder, checked his gun, and walked forward like he owned the place, skirting the edge of the building. He'd studied the blueprints online, knew the study had French doors.

"Soon," he muttered under his breath. "Soon, you stuck up little…" The doors were still open. Clearly she had more faith in the security of her house than she did common sense. He walked in, pointing the gun at her, watching with a grin as her head lifted and her eyes widened.

"Think you can just dump me?" he hissed, letting her stand up without comment. "You really think I would just let you humiliate me?"

Higgins raised her hands slowly, eyes fixed on Milo's face as he kept his gun pointed directly at her head. 

"Milo, I'm sorry…" she began, but he cut her off.

"No you're not. Not yet. But you will be." He waved the gun, seeing her shift to one side. "Stay still. I had to tell your aloha shirt-wearing friend more than once, and he didn't like how I repeated myself."

She blanched, and he grinned. No need for her to find out that he had followed her onto the grounds. No need for her to know that her friends were still alive and well.

"You're gonna come with me. Or I'm going back to that little guest house and shooting the other two." And he stepped back, through the doors, watching with vicious glee as she moved out from behind the desk and crossed the room. 

He gestured for her to walk ahead of him, jerking the gun in the vague direction of the gates. She walked slowly, but he didn't tell her to move faster. He told himself she was probably too scared to speed up, gloated over scaring her, over the power he had over her already.

"He didn't even beg. I was surprised. Just closed his eyes and took it like a man." Milo couldn't resist taunting her, ratcheting up her grief and her fear.

A sudden snarl made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he spun, a primal fear surging as he saw two dark eyes flashing in the dying glow of the solar lights. 

He didn't even have time to scream before powerful teeth closed over his wrist and jerked down hard. A second snarl, a blur of movement, and his left leg was tugged out from under him. He dropped to the floor, horrific growls echoing in his ears, struggling to get away.

He threw himself over to the side, flung his left hand out, wrapping his fingers over the cold metal of his pistol. He waved it around blindly, hearing a voice but too panicked to make out what it was saying. Something was tugging on the gun, trying to pull it away from him, and he sobbed as he tried desperately to keep hold of it. 

The pressure on his leg let up, his right hand suddenly fell free, and he scrambled to his feet, letting go of the gun in his haste and fear. Something growled, caught at the bag on his shoulder, and he screamed as he tugged the strap down and took off at a dead run.

Higgins didn't even try to chase him. She had his gun, and the lads were going after him. She let herself drop to her knees, her head spinning a little from the glancing blow she'd taken as Milo had tried to keep her from grabbing the gun. Her hand shook a little as she reached for the bag, and she knew she was only opening it to put off having to go to the guest house.

She found herself staring at ropes, duct tape, a gag, a knife. She had a sudden insight into just how violent Milo was and felt her stomach churn at the thought of what might have happened if the dogs hadn't come running. Her eyes drifted closed, and she focused on breathing, just for a second or two. 

Then she fished out her cell and called the police, stating what had happened as calmly as she could. She told the kind-sounding young man that he should send an ambulance, too, and her heart clenched at the thought that Magnum was beyond medical help. But she couldn't bring herself to say there was a dead body to be dealt with. 

The pleasant voice told her to stay where she was, that HPD had a bypass code for the gates, and that someone would need to talk to her. Less than a minute after she ended the call, her cell rang, and she found herself listening to Katsumoto as he told her he was on his way over. He asked her who the ambulance was for, but she couldn't bring herself to answer.

"I'll wait here," she told him, hanging up before he could say anything else. But she didn't. She couldn't leave Rick and T.C. tied up, possibly injured. 

The thought had her sprinting towards the guest house without even realising she was moving. If she slowed a little as she approached it, if her heart jumped into her throat as she peeked through the window, she was sure no one would blame her. And if she nearly fell down at the sight of her boys, alive and well and untied and unharmed, she was pretty sure no one would blame her for that either.

She told herself Milo was just messing with her, playing mind games, that she had been an idiot to believe for even a second that one man could get the better of her boys. It didn't help the way her breathing was stuttering, but it helped her keep her hand from shaking as she moved across to the door.

The knock at the door was gentle and drowned out by the soundtrack of the film, the yelling and explosions and dramatic music covering the quiet tapping. Even in the sudden, very artistic, silence that followed the grenades, complete with background characters rubbing ineffectually at their ears, the knocking was barely loud enough for the men to hear it. All three of them looked at the door, foreheads creased, before looking at each other.

“It’s your door,” T.C. said after a few seconds, shrugging at the look Magnum gave him.

Magnum rolled his eyes a little but stood from his comfortable slouch and went to open the door. He blinked in surprise when he saw Higgins standing on the other side. The darkness of the night and the dim light from his room were throwing odd shadows; it looked almost like she had a bruise coming up on her cheekbone.

“You’re back earlier than I thought. Did you scare Kai and Kimmie off after all?” he joked. His smile dropped as he realized she was staring, not at him, but at a spot to the left of his ear, and her eyes looked watery. “Juliet?”

His tone must have told Rick and T.C. something was wrong; the film suddenly stopped, and the light dipped even more as one of them turned off the TV. Magnum stood still as Higgins’ eyes finally flickered over to meet his gaze, filled with tears, and skittered away again.

“Milo was waiting at the gate. He tried to make me leave with him. I think he was planning… He told me that you were…" She trailed off, and her body gave an odd jerk.

It sounded almost like she was trying to laugh, but she missed the mark, and her breath caught in her chest as she stumbled over the words. She looked back to Magnum again, holding his gaze this time, and, for a split second, he felt frozen. Higgins was upset, nearly crying, almost looked scared, and he couldn’t for the life of him think of what to do. Then, after a painfully long moment, his brain finally kicked in.

“C’mon,” he said quietly, holding out a hand. “Come here.”

He actually meant for her to walk past him and make herself at home on the couch. Instead, she took a single step forward and buried her face in his chest, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. He didn’t hesitate, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close, running one hand gently in circles over her spine. 

He could hear Rick and T.C. moving around behind him and wondered vaguely what they were doing. But, far more important, were the sobbing sounds that were coming from the shaking woman he was holding. He whispered nonsense into her hair, throwing around “there now” and “easy girl” with a liberal abandon born of confusion and mild fear; he wasn’t sure he wanted to know exactly what had happened to throw Higgins so far off balance.

"Katsumoto's on his way," she muttered, not moving her head. "He needs to take a statement." 

Magnum gently moved her a step back so he could make eye contact. "Do you need a doctor?" The question made his stomach twist, made Rick and T.C. freeze in their movements behind him, but he needed to ask. 

She shook her head, not seeming to notice as Magnum flashed a thumbs up behind him. Rick and T.C. carried on making the couch into a small nest, cushions and a blanket piling up. Just from the sound of her voice, it was painfully obvious to them that their little sister needed some comfort and safety right now.

So when Katsumoto arrived at the guest house, having first followed the sound of weak cries for help only to find Zeus and Apollo sitting on some guy, looking proud of themselves and refusing to let anyone near, he found Higgins practically hidden by the two blankets that had been draped over her. She was cradling a ridiculously large mug in her hands, her face was pale, and the three men sitting around her had the sort of overly protective looks on their faces that Katsumoto usually only saw on the parents of young children. 

"It was Milo Rockly," she told him, her voice sounding much stronger than he would have expected.

"I know. Your dogs are waiting for you to tell them it's okay to eat him." Even he, annoyed as he was at being so totally in the dark, had to smile just a little at the laugh that rang out.

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Higgins can't even have dinner with some old friends! I owe her so much fluff after this month


End file.
